Do you know your plastic footprint? Join others from around the world. Collect your plastic waste (both recyclable and non) for one week or more. Then photograph, tally, and post it here.

What can we learn about our habits and lifestyles by examining our waste? And what changes can each of us make to leave the planet a little less trashy?

July 27, 2009

BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #7

I have lost another lb this week! 4 lbs in 7 weeks. Obviously not falling off of me but I wasn’t convinced that I would loose any weight so this is an accomplishment. I have also been going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week. This is likely helping – perhaps more than my change in eating habits? I did notice that I got away with no wandering around the house looking for junk food for a couple of days. I think I am finally weaning myself from old eating habits. I feel like I am giving up smoking or something the way I am talking!

What could I easily replace?Nothing on this list is easily replaceable. I have hit all the low hanging fruit. I was actually pondering buying a wheel of cheese like Beth did so there would be no wrapping. I might even consider that if I think that I can’t eat it like a reasonable human being and not binge. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

What would I give up if no plastic alternative was found?I look at this list and I know I am not going to give up milk, cheese or crackers. No how, no way.Pepperoni? That was probably the first time I ate it this year. Not much to give up.

I am feeling very conflicted about the plastic pots for hot drinks from work. I get two drinks out of each hot chocolate pot so I feel like I am using it efficiently. I don’t think I am going to give this up totally at this point. I just let go of my General Foods Coffee (at least temporarily) so I think I have given up enough of my luxuries at the moment.

Other conclusions?

With some effort, I have limited myself to about 15 pieces of plastic a week – on average. I can’t even imagine how many pieces of plastic I would have consumed without my effort. So with a fair bit of effort on my part – ok… it FEELS like effort, I still consume about 60 pieces of plastic in a month. That is 780 pieces of plastic in a year JUST related to food. It is mind boggling and a little depressing. It makes me wonder how many pieces of plastic one would consume if one wasn’t paying attention.

I've been eliminating plastic for over a year. Very challenging. Buy milk in cardboard cartons instead of plastic jugs. Buy cheese that is packaged in waxed paper. The deli thing is a challenge and I'm working on that, maybe bring my own waxed paper in and ask them to wrap the contents in it. I bought 8 x 10" muslin bags to buy my loose produce in (mushrooms, green beans) so I don't have to use the plastic baggies they provide. Also, get refills on shampoo and cooking oils, etc in glass jars from the co-op. This is not impossible, good job and keep it going!

Billie, I love my cheese, and I've found over time that keeping a lot of it around actually cuts way down on my seeing it as something to binge on -- also making the investment in a wheel of cheese makes the cost of excessive sampling easy to remember and also serves as a deterrent. However, and its a big however, when I first started having a lot of cheese around, I ate a lot too. When I lived in Switzerland, there was a wheel of Gruyere in the basement, and once a week, someone went downstairs and carefully cut out a wedge which was served at breakfast that week.